Helping with care

Cost of live in home care

Most care companies will charge in the same way. There will be a set price for the amount of ‘care visit time’ required. This is typically a charge made for a 30 minute, 45 minute or 1 hour time period and upwards of these amounts. Costs do vary throughout the UK and it is common for evening and weekend rates to be higher than daytime rates to incentivise carers to work unsociable hours. These will generally be between £17-£25 per hour. To see more detailed information on regional home care charging visit United Kingdom Homecare Association resources database.

Most care companies will not charge for an initial needs assessment meeting. Should you choose to have an initial assessment, this will determine what care is required and what the cost would be. The price for the ‘care visit time’ is inclusive of the back-office organisation and continual monitoring of the care time provision.

The price includes:

Actual ‘hands-on’ service delivery time by the care and support worker who attends your/your loved one’s home

Direct line local office contact and support (due to the nature of social care services this is also available outside of normal day office working hours)

The induction, initial and ongoing training of care and support workers to ensure their skills are up to date for your service requirements

Enhanced DBS checks on all care workers and office workers

Risk Assessment (this involves checking all rooms/areas you require a service to take place in order to ensure your own and the care worker’s safety during the service)

Full individual support plan (detailing exactly what you require, what time you require it and for how long - this is a very detailed document which the care worker will read in order to know what is required and to prevent you from having to give information repetitively)

Reviews and changes (to ensure quality and safety is maintained throughout the service, or, should your needs change, or you want to add to or remove from the service the office staff will visit you to review and update risk assessments and plan documents to ensure they are accurate for your requirements)

Quality monitoring (our online system checks that care workers are attending your visits and at the appropriate times. This alerts us where workers are and if they are on time, therefore, should there be any lateness we can advise you/arrange an alternative worker to attend. Our office staff will also quality check all documents completed by care workers to ensure accurate information is recorded based on your visit requirements. They will also ‘spot check’ workers to ensure they are on time, professional and that you are happy with service being provided).